Chapter 15
The group headed to the forge under Duke’s guidance.
“Discuss it with Lord Rex and choose the weapon that suits you best.”
Duke spoke with the original story’s progression in mind.
After all, it was thanks to Rex that she had been able to discover her talent in the original story.
Leaving those words behind, Duke opened the door to the forge.
Ding.
“Welcome, sir.”
The blacksmith Albrek greeted Duke, looking emaciated.
Seeing how drastically he had changed in a single day, Duke could not help worrying about the blacksmith.
“Did that man come back yesterday and cause trouble again?”
Duke thought of the lord’s son.
But Albrek denied Duke’s guess.
“No, sir. A fox drained my life force.”
“A fox? ···Ah.”
That explanation was sufficient.
While Duke and Albrek conversed, Rex and Ari looked around the shop and discussed their equipment.
At first, the two of them chose their equipment normally.
But there was something that tended to happen whenever a couple went shopping together.
- “I don’t need equipment like this, Lord Rex!”
- [I want to buy it for you.]
- “I’m a beastkin! You don’t need to treat me this well!”
They had clearly been perfectly harmonious when they entered, but at some point, it had turned into a battle between someone trying to buy things for the other and someone who did not want to incur a debt.
‘Hmm. As expected, couples always end up fighting when they go shopping.’
Of course, the subject of their argument was different from that of ordinary couples.
Ari was throwing a tantrum because she no longer wanted to act spoiled toward Rex,
while Rex wanted to buy something good for his subordinate and companion out of affection for her.
Duke, who had been talking with the blacksmith, watched the two argue before stepping in at an appropriate moment.
Duke spoke to Ari as though delivering a stern reprimand.
“Lord Rex is not someone bound by such notions.”
“Lord Duke. Don’t interfere. I’m a beastkin···”
Goodness, how fierce.
Duke smiled warmly at the prickly tiger cub.
Regardless, this was an opportunity.
Duke was currently her rival, competing with her for the position of second-in-command.
To make her submit later and take her on as his disciple, it would not be a bad idea to show her the difference in their caliber from now on.
In that sense, her previous remark had been a slip of the tongue.
The moment she invoked the ideology of a country that had already fallen, she had effectively placed Rex—the person she served—beneath that ideology.
Suppressing the warmth filling his chest, Duke scolded her with a hint of anger in his voice.
“Do you think the ideology of that laughable empire applies to this man?”
To secure the teacher role, he first needed to crush her spirit in a situation like this.
He could also gain the upper hand in their contest of loyalty by emphasizing that his loyalty to Rex was stronger than hers.
“···I apologize.”
Ari did not fully grasp Duke’s intention, but she at least found his logic convincing.
‘He’s right. I was the strange one for applying worldly ideologies to Lord Rex.’
Much to her frustration, Duke was right this time.
She felt as though she had lost their contest of loyalty, but she considered this round invalid.
‘This round doesn’t count! Anyway!’
Thus, she became able to accept Rex’s goodwill at face value.
The misunderstanding had been cleared up, apart from Rex twisting himself into knots under the burden of responsibility and looking ready to die.
Duke turned back to Albrek and spoke to Ari.
“Lord Rex is investing in you because he sees your potential. Rather than feeling burdened by his kindness, think about how you will repay it.”
Leaving those words behind, Duke headed toward the blacksmith.
Rex glared daggers at Duke over his now even heavier burden of responsibility, but Duke pretended not to notice.
‘Well, it’s a story built on misunderstandings anyway.’
After all, Rex was the one who had to suffer from the misunderstanding.
***
- “Master, I have some doubts about this helmet’s performance···”
- “Oh, sir! I’m sorry! Please kill me!”
- “Try explaining yourself. Someone recognized me yesterday. What happened?”
- “Obscuring recognition only works on people who don’t know you at all! Its effect is weak on someone who already knows you!”
While the blacksmith desperately offered excuses to Duke, Rex chose Ari’s weapon after consulting with her.
The skill that had manifested that morning had a major influence on the choice of her weapon.
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Name: Arabella White
Age: 34
Race: Beastkin (White Tiger Tribe)
Level: 29
[Combat Stats]------<
Intelligence 24
Technique 28
Spirit 21
Strength 39
[Disposition Stats] ------<
Potential A
Charisma C
Leadership C
Politics D
Charm A
[Traits] ------<
- <Fighting Spirit A>, <Passion B>, <Vigilance B>, <Loyalty C>, <Diligence A>
[Skills] ------<
<Tiger King’s Aptitude>
- When attacking, part of the damage is converted into fixed damage that ignores defense.
- When attacking the same target consecutively, the proportion converted into fixed damage increases.
- On a critical success with a parry or defense, there is a chance to break the opponent’s stance.
- Fixed damage dealt to an opponent whose stance is broken is doubled.
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This was the skill that had manifested that morning.
Rex could not understand why this skill had appeared when all they had supposedly done was sleep while holding hands.
However, it was good that manifesting this skill had evolved her into a spear capable of piercing through differences in rank.
‘The more attacks a weapon has and the better it is for parrying, the more suited it will be to this skill.’
Using this skill as a basis, Rex ordered her combat suit, gauntlets, and boots.
From the blacksmith Albrek, he ordered gauntlets that would maximize her flexibility and speed,
while from Albrek’s wife, he ordered a combat suit capable of accommodating a cat beastkin’s flexibility.
The two people working on the orders submitted the finished products almost simultaneously.
When he saw Ari wearing the completed equipment, the blacksmith Albrek spoke to his wife as though scolding her.
“No, why did you make it like that?”
“You understand women far too little.”
“If you worry about that sort of thing in combat, you’ll die! You should only care about practicality!”
“Can’t we pursue a little beauty as long as it doesn’t compromise practicality?”
While the pragmatist Albrek and his aesthetic-minded wife bickered, Ari had Rex inspect her equipment.
“What do you think?”
[It’s pretty.]
While making her combat suit, Albrek’s wife had also modified her maid uniform.
The modified maid uniform could be removed easily at any time; once the double buckle on the back was undone, the dress and apron naturally slid down.
What was revealed beneath them was a white shirt and black shorts.
In other words, she could enter combat mode at any time while in maid mode.
Although it was inconvenient to wear the maid uniform over the combat suit, that hardly mattered to Ari, who was strangely obsessed with her maid uniform.
Rex tilted his head as he looked at her finished appearance.
[I’ve been wondering since yesterday, but why are you so obsessed with being a maid?]
“I’m a white tiger beastkin, aren’t I?”
[You are.]
“Don’t you think clothes that embody a harmony of black and white like mine are the ultimate outfit?”
[Ah-ha.]
In other words, she had not become a maid because she admired maids; she had become one because the maid uniform was pretty.
Rex nodded in understanding.
[Then what about the combat suit?]
“Of course.”
That must have been why the combat suit she wore beneath her maid uniform was also black and white.
Rex gave this distinctive maid a warm smile.
‘Well, this much should be fine.’
The Rex of old might have been bewildered, but the Rex of today had a remarkable person by his side who could make even Ari’s eccentricity seem like a mere quirk.
Just then, that remarkable person approached them.
“If you’re ready, I’ll be waiting in the training yard.”
Leaving those words behind, Duke headed for the training yard.
Ari watched his back and snorted.
“Lord Rex. I’ll prove it to you!”
Ari flicked her tail back and forth, apparently excited to have her equipment fitted.
Rex cheered Ari on, hoping she would not get hurt.
[Ari, just don’t push yourself too hard.]
[Duke, go easy on her too.]
Ari’s eyebrow twitched again.
As though Rex thought she could never defeat Duke, even if heaven and earth were overturned.
‘I just have to change his mind.’
She suppressed the indignation rising from deep within her chest and headed for the training yard.
***
Rex’s group headed to the training yard behind the forge.
It was a space prepared for testing weapons purchased from the forge by cutting dummies or practicing duels.
In the spacious open area, Duke and Ari faced each other.
Thud!
Having already thrown off her maid uniform, she slammed her two fists together and spoke.
“I’ll prove that I’m more suited to being Lord Rex’s right hand.”
The silver scales on her gauntlets reflected the sunlight.
By contrast, Duke had neither removed his cloak nor drawn his sword.
While Ari ground her teeth once again at his appearance, Rex opened both their status windows.
He intended to stop them immediately if either side suffered a serious injury or either health bar fell by a certain amount or more.
In other words, Rex was the referee for this duel.
Then Rex discovered something strange in Duke’s status window.
==============
Name: Duke I. Urwick
Level: 27
[Combat Stats]------<
Intelligence 90 (94)
Technique 90 (98)
Spirit 15 (109)
Strength 25 (101)
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The Strength stat directly affected physical ability,
while the Spirit stat was involved in magical firepower.
It was clear that Duke was deliberately suppressing both of these stats.
Even far below Ari’s values.
By contrast, he had left Technique, which represented technical proficiency, and Intelligence, which represented the delicacy of magic, almost unchanged.
Simply by looking at these figures, Rex could guess Duke’s intention.
‘No way···’
At that moment, Ari’s somewhat hysterical voice brought Rex out of his thoughts.
“Why aren’t you taking off your cloak? And I heard you were a swordsman.”
Only then did Duke’s voice come from beyond his helmet.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t bring a short sword.”
As he said that, Duke held up his empty left hand from beneath his cloak.
Crack.
Ari ground her teeth.
She narrowed her pupils into the vertical slits characteristic of tiger beastkin and glanced at Rex.
Rex gave a wry smile and declared the start of the duel.
“Begin!”
The moment the signal was given, she vanished.
Lightly.
Like a pouncing tiger, she reached beneath Duke’s chin without making a sound.
Until then, Duke’s gaze had remained fixed on the spot where she had been.
‘As expected, he can’t even react.’
She curled up the corners of her mouth and aimed for Duke’s chin.
But she felt none of the heavy impact she had expected from her fist.
Her fist cut uselessly through empty air.
Duke had dodged the attack simply by taking a slight step backward without even looking at her.
“Tch.”
‘Then how about this?’
She withdrew her right hand after throwing the uppercut and thrust a straight punch with her left.
Duke casually sidestepped the punch and caught her left hand.
“?!”
Both Rex and Ari were shocked.
If things continued like this, her skill’s effect would not activate at all.
With her left hand caught from the side, her posture was awkward for launching another attack, while Duke’s technique was overwhelmingly superior for transitioning into a joint lock.
He had not even caught it through superior reflexes or strength.
He had overcome the difference in strength with a difference in technique.
‘That’s impossible.’
Because she knew that Duke had stopped her attack through pure technique, she could only grit her teeth in frustration.
There were many ways to increase one’s physical abilities, but technique could only be developed through one’s own effort.
In other words, this was direct evidence contradicting her belief that Rex’s covenant skill had made Duke stronger.
“Tsk.”
She clicked her tongue.
At that moment, Duke opened his mouth.
“You leave too many openings.”
Tap.
Her knee bent.
It did not hurt.
Duke had merely nudged the back of her knee with his foot.
The actual damage was zero.
But as a mental attack, nothing could have been more effective.
Gritting her teeth, she brought out a killing technique that could be considered forbidden in a duel.
“White Lotus-“
At that moment, her field of vision spun.
Before she knew it, her back was touching the ground.
It took her a moment to realize that Duke had grabbed her by the back of the neck, hooked his leg behind hers, and flipped her entire body over.
While Ari stared blankly at the sky, Duke waited for her to recover and spoke.
“Did you expect me to wait for you to use a grand technique? It is not a good habit to assume that everyone will view their opponent by their own standards.”
His words sounded noble, but in practice they were almost an insult.
They meant that Ari had underestimated Duke, while Duke had never once underestimated Ari.
Crack.
She sprang to her feet like a released spring.
She reset her stance and questioned Duke.
“Why aren’t you saying anything about my using a killing technique?”
“There is no need to demand an apology for an attack that poses no threat.”
Duke briefly unleashed his power, as though he had been waiting for this.
When his tier briefly reached the eighth tier, he returned to her level.
As she stared in shock, her hand trembling, Duke spoke with his face shadowed beneath his helmet.
“From now on, come at me with everything you have. So that you can prove your usefulness to your liege.”
Ari’s face turned deathly pale when she met the gaze beneath that helmet.
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Meanwhile, inside Duke’s helmet.
‘Haa. Haa. Newbie··· Urgh, you crazy bastard. Get a grip.’
Beneath his cloak, he was pinching his thigh with his right hand.
‘Damn. I should have gone out and met people during those two hundred years.’
He had completely lost his head over the newbie he was meeting for the first time in two hundred years.